The present disclosure relates generally to the field of weather radar systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to providing an indication of the status of the weather radar system on a display device.
Pilots use weather radar systems to detect and avoid hazardous weather. The radar return signals are processed to provide graphical images to a radar display, for example, a display located in the cockpit of the aircraft. The radar display may be a color multi-function display (MFD) unit that provides color graphical images to represent the severity and location of weather. Some aircraft weather radar systems are also capable of other types of hazard detection, such as turbulence detection and/or windshear detection. These types of weather radar systems can also provide indications of the presence and/or location of turbulence or other hazards.
Weather radar systems often are not connected to a synchronous display. When using a display that is not synchronous, users (e.g., pilots) may have difficulty determining real-time latency and responsiveness of the system to weather events.
Conventional radar systems do not provide information about the operational state of the system, which can lead to a misinterpretation of information provided by the weather radar system. Conventional weather radar systems can malfunction and become frozen in a particular operation or on a particular display screen. During such as malfunction, users may be unsure whether the weather hazard assessments are actually taking place or whether the system is malfunctioning (e.g., if the weather radar system or display is frozen in a particular operation or on a particular display screen). Additionally, users may be unaware of when a scanning operation for a particular weather cell has been completed and/or what, if any, displayed weather cells have been scanned by the weather radar system. Thus, there is a need for a system that provides weather radar system status information to users so that the users have greater awareness of the operation of the weather radar system. Further, there is a need for a weather radar system that allows a pilot to judge latency or responsiveness of the system to weather events when used with a synchronous display. Further still, there is a need for a weather radar system that provides a pilot with an indication that an operation is being performed by the weather radar system (e.g., an advanced or non-standard scanning operation) and reassures the pilot that the system has not malfunctioned.